Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 September 1

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From today's featured article

Brendan Fraser, promoting the
film's second sequel in 2008

The Mummy is a 1999 American action horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser (pictured), Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Kevin J. O'Connor, and Arnold Vosloo. In this film, a loose remake of a film of the same name from 1932, adventurers accidentally awaken Imhotep, a high priest from Pharaoh Seti I's reign who has been cursed for eternity. Filming began in Marrakesh, Morocco, in May 1998; the crew had to endure dehydration, sandstorms, and snakes while filming in the Sahara. The visual effects were provided by Industrial Light & Magic, who blended film and computer-generated imagery to create the mummy. The film opened on May 7, 1999, and went on to gross $416 million worldwide. The box-office success led to two sequels, The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), as well as an animated series, and a prequel, The Scorpion King. The film also inspired a roller coaster, Revenge of the Mummy, in three Universal Studios Theme Parks. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Apple dumplings

... that when Pehr Kalm explored North America in the mid-1700s, he reported being served apple dumplings (pictured) at every meal?
... that voice actress Ai Fairouz's interest in anime and manga was influenced by her reading the series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in online Skype sessions?
... that trace amounts of snowfall account for up to 80 percent of all precipitation that falls in some areas of northern Canada?
... that Agadzagadza is a mythological trickster from Nigeria who is responsible for bringing death to humankind?
... that the PATH train system was sold to allow the first World Trade Center in New York City to be built?
... that legal scholar Wang Jiafu gave lectures to China's top leaders, including President Jiang Zemin and Premier Li Peng?
... that the Natal cycad and the dune false currant are among the 1,900 endemic plant species found in the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot?
... that Petra Klingler finished third in the Ice Climbing World Cup while climbing on one leg?

In the news

Wildfire locations in Brazil and the Amazon

Brazil's National Institute for Space Research announces that it has detected more than 80,000 wildfires in the country (satellite rendering shown) since January, at least 40,000 of which have occurred in the Amazon rainforest.
At least 80 people are killed and 160 others injured in a bombing at a wedding in Kabul, Afghanistan.
All 233 people on board Ural Airlines Flight 178 survive a crash following bird strikes in both engines of an Airbus A321.

On this day

September 1

Muammar Gaddafi

1529 – Sancti Spiritu, the first European settlement in Argentina, was destroyed by Amerindians.
1804 – German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding discovered one of the largest main belt asteroids, naming it Juno after the Roman goddess.
1939 – German forces invaded multiple locations in Poland, including Wieluń and Westerplatte, starting World War II in Europe.
1969 – Muammar Gaddafi (pictured) led a coup d'état to overthrow Idris I of Libya.
1983 – A Soviet jet interceptor shot down the civilian Korean Air Lines Flight 007 near the island of Sakhalin in the north Pacific, killing all 246 passengers and 23 crew on board.

Hilda Rix Nicholas (b. 1884) · Yasuo Kuniyoshi (b. 1889) · Alan Dershowitz (b. 1938)

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Today's featured picture

British propaganda during World War II was created by the Ministry of Information, which was recreated for the duration of World War II to generate propaganda to influence the population towards support for the war effort. A wide range of media was employed aimed at local and overseas audiences. Traditional forms such as newspapers and posters were joined by new media including cinema, newsreels and radio. A wide range of themes were addressed, fostering hostility to the enemy, support for allies, and specific pro-war projects such as conserving metal and growing vegetables.

This picture is a British propaganda poster warning against careless talk, which discouraged talking about sensitive material where it could be overheard by spies. The poster, produced by the pseudonymous artist "Whitear", depicts a glamorous woman seated on a bar stool making eye contact with the viewer, representing a conventional glamour spy, accompanied by the text "You forget – but she remembers" and "Careless talk costs lives".

Poster credit: "Whitear"

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